Family Feast

I could have slept all day, I was so exhausted from my internet search last night.  But the thought of going to Agape Church this morning was all it took to motivate me out of bed.  Their worship always brings tears to my eyes and Pastor Mark’s sermons hit the nail on the head every time.  What a powerhouse that place is.  If they were in America it would become a mega church, no question, but as it is, maybe 150-200 attend on a good Sunday. 

It’s funny, Norwegians just don’t take church attendance very seriously, even if they are serious Christians.  They hike in the mountains, they go visit friends, they just stay at home and relax.  It’s such a different mindset from what I’m used to.  They even announced for the next two Sundays, because they are the weekends that sandwich together the Fall Break at school, they won’t be having church in the morning – since they know hardly any will show up.  They are switching their meeting time to 8pm on Sunday night so those who want to come can still have a day off and make it to church.  So strange to adjust church hours like that.  And on Easter, they don’t even have a church service at all, because everyone is at a cabin somewhere.  They also shut down church for the whole month of July, as everyone is on vacation.  Incredible.

I had planned to take a hike in the mountains today after church since the weather was cooperating, but unfortunately, Kory wasn’t.  As we were packed up and getting into the car, Kaleb told me he wanted me to pay “rent” for using his camera today, since mine is broken.  I reminded him he’s been using my Kindle since his Nook cable broke, and Kory butted in by saying that since we are a family, everything we all have should be considered all of ours and there shouldn’t be any of this “mine” and “yours” thing.  I quickly reminded him it’s easy for him to say that but if I ever touched “his” i-pad he’s be irate, and I’m never allowed to drive “his” Avanti.  Kaleb agreed with me that he’s as selfish as the rest of us and Kory just popped a cork and got out of the car and wouldn’t go anywhere.  He has the funniest buttons that get pushed every once in a while, so Kaleb and I went back up to the condo and waited for him to cool off.  But by the time he did, it was too late to go for a hike since we were invited to dinner at five and had a time crunch.  So much for those plans.

We had a lovely dinner out at Solevaag, the the farm where Kory’s mom was born (top photo).  Kory’s cousin’s wife (below) made a dinner that would put Thanksgiving to shame, complete with turkey and all the trimmings.  They invited over two of their kids with all of their kids and even the newest of the next generation so it was as reminiscent of a Thanksgiving dinner as I’ll ever experience in Norway.  The food was all yummy and the desserts didn’t stop coming.  We had a nice visit with everyone and felt very much loved, so that was a good way to blot out the stains from earlier in the day.

The countdown is really on this week as we prepare to head home.  So many details need to be attended to while trying to squeeze in our last good-byes to everyone.  We don’t have our place rented out while we are gone, except for the week of Christmas – a neighbor will rent it for his family that’s coming.  Otherwise, we just wait and see what God has in mind, but we still need to take our clothes out of the closets and our toothbrushes out of the bathroom.  We’ll be back in mid-April I think, but I’ve yet to buy the tickets for our return until I see who will be coming for a visit next summer and what their timing is.  It may be Bjorn and Inger, the twins, Tobias and his sister as they lit up when I told them we are taking groups from our church down to work in the orphanage in Mexico.  We are taking one group in April and another in August, and I had one family back out of the August trip so we have enough room for them.  It would be so awesome if they could join us on that trip, so all our time now in Norway has to work around out trips to Mexico. There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle that have to fit together.  I’m a good planner but God leads the way, so we’ll wait and see how He directs our plans are for the future.